Finally, senior Telugu Desam Party leader and Andhra Pradesh minister for higher education Ganta Srinivasa Rao managed to retain his hold in the party by bringing pressure on party president and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu to retain him in his Bhimili assembly constituency in Viisakhapatnam district.
Naidu was planning to field his son Nara Lokesh from Bheemili assembly constituency and bringing pressure on Ganta to either shift to Visakhapatnam north or Anakapalli assembly constituencies or contest for Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha constituency.
At one stage, Naidu proposed to shift Lokesh to Visakhapatnam north, but still wanted Ganta to contest the Lok Sabha seat.
However, Ganta continued to lobby for retaining his Bhimili seat. In the meantime, Naidu came under pressure from his brother-in-law Nandamuri Balakrishna to give the party ticket to his second son-in-law Bharat for Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha seat. This made things easy for Ganta.
Since Naidu cannot accommodate both Lokesh and Bharat in the same district, he was compelled to shift to Lokesh to Mangalagiri.
As a result, decks have become clear for Ganta to contest from his Bheemili constituency. According to latest information, Naidu has cleared his name for the same constituency now.
Ganta has been nurturing Bheemili constituency for the last five years and has taken up several developmental works, making it a strong forte of the TDP.
Moreover, Ganta has also a lot of business interests in the constituency. Now, he is feeling safer in retaining the seat.
